


Vows

by shamrockivy



Category: Sherlock Holmes (Downey films)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Victorian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-25
Updated: 2012-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-22 11:16:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/609239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shamrockivy/pseuds/shamrockivy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some vows never have to be spoken to be known.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vows

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place immediately after events in the 2009 film and due to being written beforehand disregards most of the timeline and events in Game of Shadows.

It was not even a fortnight after the incident involving Blackwood’s sham of a resurrection that the engagement between Dr. John Watson and Miss Mary Mortenson came to an abrupt end after several contributing factors including the strong objection of Miss Mortenson’s family and a discussion between Mary and John concerning his feelings and dedication towards a certain Sherlock Holmes.

They parted on amicable terms with Miss Mortenson honoring the good doctor with her near angelic understanding and vow of silence as to the true relations between the bachelor residents of 221B Baker Street.

Holmes was quite genial and insistent that Mary keep the ring, confirming Watson’s suspicions as to the dubious nature concerning Holmes’ acquisition of it.

Though true that Watson had loved her, it was not a love which made him whole, a complete being made so only by being fully tied up in another.

With honor as one of his most prevalent virtues, Watson could not bring himself to stand before a host of witnesses and swear vows to a lady, no matter how lovely her demeanor and countenance, when in truth he would be swearing them in his soul to another.

It was immoral, illegal, and irrational, but the heart of the matter was that John Watson was irrevocably tied to one Sherlock Holmes. A bond that was strong enough that nothing in either heaven or earth could cause the two to be fully unbound and independent of each other.

Truly, what tied the two men together was more than any marriage, for a marriage could in its entirety consist of nothing more than a piece of parchment, signed and dated, a cold thing lacking any warmth of fidelity.  
 __  
Do you swear to take this man, to love, honor, and comfort him? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for better or worse, richer or poorer, forsaking all others to remain true to him as long as you both shall live?

Comfort was apparent in the long and skillful fingers that employed mind-boggling mixture of firm pressure and gentle caresses to ease aches and twinges of pain that Watson had no knowledge could ever truly feel wholly relieved.

There was devoted care in Watson’s diligence when seeing to the injuries Homes sustained during the more violent excursions in the boxing ring. Surgeon’s hands, steady and resolved to causing as little discomfort as possible, expertly attended to the wounds that adorned the alabaster skin and lovingly wiped away the blood and sweat from the high cheekbones, aquiline nose, and regal brow.

It was Holmes who cared for Watson’s pain wracked body when after a particularly strenuous night of hunting down criminals or the tenacious British weather took a vicious downturn where the frigid and dank moisture of the air sank into the bones and lingered long after.

When Holmes became too wrapped up in a case, it was Watson who coaxed him into eating and sleeping, who worried over his health and mastered the balance of knowing when to push for compliance and when to step back and wait for the right opportunity to invoke the physician’s right to treat his patient.

An advocate for Holmes’ continuing health, Watson was the one to wage war with Holmes’ odious habit of using cocaine solution when life did not prove stimulating enough for the man’s brilliantly intuitive mind.

Some battles resulted in a forfeit, but more often than not the kind hearted doctor was able to deter his detective from such harmful activities by a mixture of cajoling and ample time spent in search of challenging cases.

The two men were well adjusted to navigating the joys and trials of life together, the ups and downs that combined to make their lives what they were. Watson was privy to dealing with Holmes’ black moods which could be as suffocating and scathing as the harsh winter wind, cutting through all defenses down to the very bone.

Likewise, Holmes abandoned his usual cool contempt for emotional pandering when his dear Watson became entrenched in despair and self-loathing over the rare times that a patient of his was lost, blaming himself for the inevitable odds that were present.

In a manner so very much Holmes’ own, he strove with nonchalance to aid their finance’s stability by talking on several cases that were particularly dull, but offering plenty of pounds for compensation, along with locking Watson’s checkbook in his desk drawer, the key of which could not even be found by the skillful Mrs. Hudson during her wretched spring cleaning.

It was understood by nearly all who knew him that Holmes had a possessive streak. The man simply did not share much at all with outsiders, neither his explanations nor his secrets, save to one.

The entirety of the debacle that revolved around Watson’s courting of Miss Mortenson was evidence enough of the fact that Holmes did not tolerate his fellow resident spending copious leisure time with others, especially young ladies of whom most would consider highly aesthetically pleasing.

Jealousy aside, the choice had been made by Watson and it was evident that there was nothing that could wedge itself between the detective and the doctor to drive them so far apart that reconciliation could not be reached.

So it was that John Watson and Sherlock Holmes were bound together with unspoken vows, vows that were expressed not in statements but in seemingly casual placing of hands on shoulders, whispered clues into an ear, walks together arm in arm, secretive smiles and smirks, and cleverly disguised tones in certain phrases.

For though rare, not all vows must be spoken aloud to be known to those it concerns.


End file.
